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UNDER-APPRECIATED ROCK ARTIST OF THE MONTH FOR MAY 2011: THE LONESOME DRIFTER
One of my favorite rock bands is the Cramps, founded in New York in the mid-1970’s. They loved finding weird, obscure songs from the 1950’s and 1960’s and reintroducing them to the world in their albums and concerts, though their own original songs that were filtered through this sensibility are just as enjoyable. A series of CD’s on Born Bad Records called Born Bad – a/k/a Songs the Cramps Taught Us (actually that might be two different CD series; I’ve never been able to tell for sure) – brought the original songs to the masses (as did a popular radio show by the band called The Purple Knif Show – without an “e”, and pronounced “ka-nif” – that was later released as an album also). I have the first six volumes of Born Bad (and were they expensive, too, at $18 a pop); but the price has come down recently, so I might see about getting some more. (More about that another time). At any rate: Highly recommended.
Another cool thing about the Cramps is that they were always about half women, half men. One of their drummers, Miriam Linna met Billy Miller at a record show in 1977; and their common musical interests led them to form a fanzine called Kicks, dedicated to obscure rock, soul and rockabilly. They are now married.
The term “rockabilly” – the word is an amalgamation of rock and hillbilly (an early term for country music) – was thrilling to me even before I actually knew what it meant. It was one of the earliest forms of rock and roll and the first to be played primarily by white musicians, going all the way back to “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and His Comets. The roster of rockabilly stars over the years starts of course with The King, Elvis Presley, along with Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and most of the other artists at Sun Records in the 1950’s, plus Wanda Jackson, Eddie Cochran, and others. There was also a rockabilly revival in the early 1980’s led by the Blasters and the Stray Cats. To this day, when a band wants a rawer sound, they will incorporate rockabilly into their music.
A 1986 article in Kicks on Hasil Adkins caused a sensation, and Norton Records – named for Ed Norton, the Art Carney character on the long-running Jackie Gleason TV comedy The Honeymooners – was born when they released Out to Hunch later that year, the first of several albums collecting Adkins’s music. Norton LP’s are gloriously retro, sometimes with plain block lettering on their dull-orange labels, old-fashioned stiff album covers, and often long liner notes. I had heard the most successful of his singles on one of the Born Bad CD’s, “She Said”; and even that one song demonstrates that Hasil Adkins can burp and beep and howl his way through a song better than anyone this side of Charlie Feathers (he is known as the “king of rockabilly” and is the co-author of one of Elvis Presley’s earliest hit songs, “I Forgot to Remember to Forget”). However, I didn’t get an entire album until last year.
Hasil Adkins is a true wild man; Allmusic calls him a “rockabilly lunatic” and “a frantic one-man band who bashed out ultra-crude rock & roll tunes about sex, chicken, and decapitation into a wheezing reel-to-reel tape machine in a West Virginia shack”. He was born in a small town there in 1939 and lived in obscurity for most of his life. After buying a Hank Williams record, he naively assumed that Williams was playing all of the instruments, since there were no other musician credits shown. By the time he figured out the truth, he had already taught himself to be a one-band band, so he stuck with that. When rock and roll came along in the mid-1950’s, he jumped in with both feet. He released about 15 singles back in the 1950’s and 1960’s, though none were big sellers. In a charming affectation, he always mailed a copy of his records to whoever was President at the time it came out; and Richard Nixon sent him a thank-you note one time.
The Hasil Adkins album that I got is called White Light/White Meat, subtitled: “Authentic West Virginia One Man Band Home Recordings 1958-1965”) and provides a representative slice of his output: raucous rockers (“Hot Dog Baby”), Hank Williams-style love songs (“You’re Gonna Break My Heart”), songs about dance crazes (“Come on and Do the Shake with Me”), and country weepies (“Lonely Graveyard”). The album name is adapted from that of the Velvet Underground album, White Light/White Heat (1968).
There’s plenty more out there: Allmusic reports that Hasil Adkins released 5 or 6 songs about a “lascivious but non-existent dance craze called ‘the hunch’” – collected in that first Norton album, Out to Hunch – and another song about eating peanut butter on the moon. Norton also released Poultry in Motion, a full album of Adkins songs that all have “chicken” in the title. Thanks to the exposure from Kicks magazine and Norton Records, Hasil Adkins got to enjoy a minor celebrity status during the last 20 or so years of his life.
On an impluse, I ordered another Norton Records LP at the same time, a 2010 compilation of a man from northern Louisiana who calls himself THE LONESOME DRIFTER called Eager Boy (subtitled: “Rockabilly and Hillbilly Bop from the Vaults of Ram Records 1958-59!”). If nothing else had sprung from there, northern Louisiana would still be renowned as the home of the Louisiana Hayride radio show, the direct antecedent of the even more legendary show from WSM Radio in Nashville, The Grand Ole Opry. However, this fertile musical landscape was also the home of artists as varied as the avant-garde (and anonymous) band the Residents, musical entrepreneur Dale Hawkins (whose song “Suzie Q” was one of the first in the genre called “swamp rock” and was also the first hit song by Creedence Clearwater Revival), and a wealth of country stars like Trace Adkins (no relation to Hasil Adkins, as far as I know), Tim McGraw, and Hank Williams, Jr. (father Hank Sr. was from Alabama). The man born Thomas Johnson in Bastrop, LA was inspired by the founders of country and western like Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, and Bill Monroe; and his dream was to appear on the Louisiana Hayride.
Ram Records was the hub of rockabilly music in northern Louisiana and also seemed to be about half women, half men – much rarer in those days. Guitarist Mira Smith, with help from her cousin Alton Warwick started the Ram Recording Co. in Shreveport; and this was where Thomas Johnson and his band headed. Mira gave him a poem called “Tear Drop Valley” that was written by two of her friends, and Johnson set it to music and recorded it at a studio in a small radio station nearby. Mira later decided to start her own record company called K Records (named for her sister Kathleen Smith).
Meanwhile, Thomas Johnson got a poem from an insurance salesman in his hometown called “N----r Boy”, about someone who had big plans for his life. Johnson changed the title to “Eager Boy”, though in the original, the lyrics have a real poignancy: After listing his dreams in the verses, including wanting to become Senator and maybe even President – just like the current President Barack Obama – the chorus line is: “But everybody treats me like a toy / Because I’m just a n----r boy”.
Chuck Berry’s landmark hit “Johnny B. Goode” – which has a similar theme about someone with big dreams, come to think of it (“Maybe someday your name will be in lights / Sayin’ ‘Johnny B. Goode tonight!’”) – also has a hidden history. The first verse originally went: “Deep down in Louisiana close to New Orleans / Way back up in the woods among the evergreens / There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood / Where lived a colored boy named Johnny B. Goode / Who never, ever learned to learn to read or write so well / But he could play a guitar just like a-ringin’ a bell.” Chuck Berry changed the lyric to “country boy” to ensure that the song could get a wider acceptance.
Thomas Johnson told Mira Smith that he didn’t want his own name on the record. She asked him what he did want, and he gave her the name the Lonesome Drifter, adapted from the name of Hank Williams’ band the Drifting Cowboys and also another name used by Williams, Luke the Drifter. So “Eager Boy” was released on the brand-new label K Records, though it was actually the flip side “Tear Drop Valley” that finally won the Drifter his spot on the Louisiana Hayride. (The Norton Records label on some of their albums is adapted from the one used by K Records, with “Norton” or a big “N” instead of a “K”, and with the same orange color).
The second and last single, “Honey, Do You Think of Me” b/w “I’ll be Lonesome When You’re Gone” came out on Ram Records itself. The B side had been written and recorded by Linda Brannon on Ram two years earlier. Carol Williams (who had recorded Ram Records’ first single) provided the second vocal on the Lonesome Drifter’s remake. Linda and Carol would, respectively, shortly marry Jerry Kennedy and Billy Sanford (who played guitar on the Lonesome Drifter recording of “I’ll be Lonesome When You’re Gone”). These two men later left Shreveport to join Roy Orbison’s band; they can be heard doing the masterful guitar work on his mega-hit “Oh, Pretty Woman”.
The liner notes on the Lonesome Drifter LP – written by Kicks and Norton Records co-founder Billy Miller – says of his best-known song: “‘Eager Boy’ epitomizes full throttled rockabilly – a cocksure lead vocal and trigger-happy guitar riding atop a solid slap bass rhythm”. He continues: “‘Eager Boy’ arguably stands as rockabilly’s high-water mark, rightfully commanding a king’s ransom among today’s collectors”. As an example, in the week ending May 20, 2010, the original “Eager Boy” 45 was the third highest-selling vinyl record on eBay, bringing an astounding $5,100.69.
No matter how great they are, the problem with reissuing music from obscure artists like the Lonesome Drifter who have only one or two singles to their name is that there usually aren’t a lot of songs in the vault to pick from. The Eager Boy album does include three different versions of both sides of his first single, “Eager Boy” and “Tear Drop Valley”; I might add though that I didn’t mind hearing a one of them. However, the other 11 songs on the album are equally astonishing and could have easily formed the basis of a colorful career.
The Lonesome Drifter has some lovely reminiscences within the liner notes on the Eager Boy LP; they conclude: “The last show I did was in 1960. Margaret Lewis and all of them were on the bill. Like I said, I was a loner. I’d do my thing and cut and run. We used this fiddle player that night, and on the second song, he sounded like he was skinning a cat! I put my guitar across my shoulder and I quit right there. Pawned my guitar. I’ve regretted it ever since. But that played into the mindset of the Lonesome Drifter, no good, a down and outer. I guess it added some to the mystery about me.”
Great story, no doubt. But really, the Lonesome Drifter was late leaving the party if anything. Sun Records had amassed perhaps the greatest aggregation of talent in the history of popular music and, not incidentally, had for my money the best-looking record labels ever. In 1956, they were able to show off by hosting an impromptu jam session by the Million Dollar Quartet, having a genuinely stupendous line-up: Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis (Sun-signed artists all, though Elvis was by now at RCA). Most agree though that Sun had begun to lose its edge by the end of the decade.
As to the Quartet, Elvis was drafted into the Army in 1958; when he returned to music two years later, his recordings were quite different and continued to evolve over time. Johnny Cash became one of country music’s greatest artists; and Jerry Lee Lewis made a similarly seamless transition to country and is generally regarded as one of the premier piano players in any musical form. In the late 1960’s, I attended a traveling show of several country artists put together by Jim Ed Brown, if memory serves. It included one of the earliest appearances by Crystal Gayle (Loretta Lynn’s younger sister) long before her hit song “Don’t it Make My Brown Eyes Blue”, and Roger Miller might have been the headliner; but what I really remember was the electrifying appearance by Jerry Lee Lewis, still one of the most exciting concerts I have ever seen – and the rest of the audience seemed to concur.
Meanwhile, Carl Perkins was beginning to slip into obscurity and was in danger of being known only as the songwriter and original performer of one of Elvis’ signature songs, “Blue Suede Shoes” (though I prefer Carl’s version of “Blue Suede Shoes” myself). However, the Beatles gave Carl Perkins’ career new life when they covered several of his songs early on, notably “Honey, Don’t”.
Additionally, the 1980’s rockabilly revival was sadly short-lived. Only 2,000 or so copies of the debut album by the Blasters, American Music were originally pressed in 1980 (though the CD reissue did much better); their later albums were critical faves but never sold all that well. Their wonderful song “American Music” became the theme music for the cult classic New Wave Theatre. Blasters front man Dave Alvin edged into pure roots music; the fine album I have is called Public Domain: Songs from the Wild Land (2000). The Stray Cats also had some MTV hits and put out a few albums, but their front man Brian Setzer drifted away and played with Robert Plant’s retro-rock side project the Honeydrippers in 1984 before transforming himself further to help spur a swing revival with the Brian Setzer Orchestra in the mid-1990’s.
Wanda Jackson became the “Queen of Rockabilly” when Elvis Presley himself encouraged her to sing rockabilly when she toured with him in 1955-1956, but she began moving toward pure country when she had an early hit song with the title track “Right or Wrong” on her 1961 album Right or Wrong. Near the end of the arc of her rockabilly career, she recorded one of the songs on my All-Time Top Ten, the sublime “Funnel of Love” with her hot new band, the Party Timers that featured a young Roy Clark. This was yet another song that was introduced to me on a Born Bad CD.
Rockabilly survives as echoes and grace notes in a dozen or more rock and country subgenres but, in its purest form, might be too kinetic and sinewy for the general public to bear for very long. Thankfully, in this modern era, nostalgia has morphed into what might more properly be called musical appreciation; and forgotten and unknown gems from all types of popular music are available to connoisseurs like never before. Reissue CD’s from Norton Records and many other labels abound with rockabilly nuggets, as just one example. Norton – now celebrating its 25th anniversary – has released at least 8 albums of Hasil Adkins’ music and continues to do so (the album I have came out in 2010 and wasn’t mentioned in the Wikipedia article on Adkins until I added it); and several other record companies have also put out Hasil Adkins albums. And now the Lonesome Drifter has taken his rightful place in the Norton Records archives.
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The Honor Roll of the Under Appreciated Rock Bands and Artists follows, in date order, including a link to the original Facebook posts and the theme of the article.
Dec 2009 – BEAST; Lot to Learn
Jan 2010 – WENDY WALDMAN; Los Angeles Singer-Songwriters
Feb 2010 – CYRUS ERIE; Cleveland
Mar 2010 – BANG; Record Collecting I
Apr 2010 – THE BREAKAWAYS; Power Pop
May 2010 – THE NOT QUITE; Katrina Clean-Up
Jun 2010 – WATERLILLIES; Electronica
Jul 2010 – THE EYES; Los Angeles Punk Rock
Aug 2010 – QUEEN ANNE’S LACE; Psychedelic Pop
Sep 2010 – THE STILLROVEN; Minnesota
Oct 2010 – THE PILTDOWN MEN; Record Collecting II
Nov 2010 – SLOVENLY; Slovenly Peter
Dec 2010 – THE POPPEES; New York Punk/New Wave
Jan 2011 – HACIENDA; Latinos in Rock
Feb 2011 – THE WANDERERS; Punk Rock (1970’s/1980’s)
Mar 2011 – INDEX; Psychedelic Rock (1960’s)
Apr 2011 – BOHEMIAN VENDETTA; Punk Rock (1960’s)
May 2011 – THE LONESOME DRIFTER; Rockabilly
Jun 2011 – THE UNKNOWNS; Disabled Musicians
Jul 2011 – THE RIP CHORDS; Surf Rock I
Aug 2011 – ANDY COLQUHOUN; Side Men
Sep 2011 – ULTRA; Texas
Oct 2011 – JIM SULLIVAN; Mystery
Nov 2011 – THE UGLY; Punk Rock (1970’s)
Dec 2011 – THE MAGICIANS; Garage Rock (1960’s)
Jan 2012 – RON FRANKLIN; Why Celebrate Under Appreciated?
Feb 2012 – JA JA JA; German New Wave
Mar 2012 – STRATAVARIOUS; Disco Music
Apr 2012 – LINDA PIERRE KING; Record Collecting III
May 2012 – TINA AND THE TOTAL BABES; One Hit Wonders
Jun 2012 – WILD BLUE; Band Names I
Jul 2012 – DEAD HIPPIE; Band Names II
Aug 2012 – PHIL AND THE FRANTICS; Wikipedia I
Sep 2012 – CODE BLUE; Hidden History
Oct 2012 – TRILLION; Wikipedia II
Nov 2012 – THOMAS ANDERSON; Martin Winfree’s Record Buying Guide
Dec 2012 – THE INVISIBLE EYES; Record Collecting IV
Jan 2013 – THE SKYWALKERS; Garage Rock Revival
Feb 2013 – LINK PROTRUDI AND THE JAYMEN; Link Wray
Mar 2013 – THE GILES BROTHERS; Novelty Songs
Apr 2013 – LES SINNERS; Universal Language
May 2013 – HOLLIS BROWN; Greg Shaw / Bob Dylan
Jun 2013 (I) – FUR (Part 1); What Might Have Been I
Jun 2013 (II) – FUR (Part 2); What Might Have Been II
Jul 2013 – THE KLUBS; Record Collecting V
Aug 2013 – SILVERBIRD; Native Americans in Rock
Sep 2013 – BLAIR 1523; Wikipedia III
Oct 2013 – MUSIC EMPORIUM; Women in Rock I
Nov 2013 – CHIMERA; Women in Rock II
Dec 2013 – LES HELL ON HEELS; Women in Rock III
Jan 2014 – BOYSKOUT; (Lesbian) Women in Rock IV
Feb 2014 – LIQUID FAERIES; Women in Rock V
Mar 2014 (I) – THE SONS OF FRED (Part 1); Tribute to Mick Farren
Mar 2014 (II) – THE SONS OF FRED (Part 2); Tribute to Mick Farren
Apr 2014 – HOMER; Creating New Bands out of Old Ones
May 2014 – THE SOUL AGENTS; The Cream Family Tree
Jun 2014 – THE RICHMOND SLUTS and BIG MIDNIGHT; Band Names (Changes) III
Jul 2014 – MIKKI; Rock and Religion I (Early CCM Music)
Aug 2014 – THE HOLY GHOST RECEPTION COMMITTEE #9; Rock and Religion II (Bob Dylan)
Sep 2014 – NICK FREUND; Rock and Religion III (The Beatles)
Oct 2014 – MOTOCHRIST; Rock and Religion IV
Nov 2014 – WENDY BAGWELL AND THE SUNLITERS; Rock and Religion V
Dec 2014 – THE SILENCERS; Surf Rock II
Jan 2015 (I) – THE CRAWDADDYS (Part 1); Tribute to Kim Fowley
Jan 2015 (II) – THE CRAWDADDYS (Part 2); Tribute to Kim Fowley
Feb 2015 – BRIAN OLIVE; Songwriting I (Country Music)
Mar 2015 – PHIL GAMMAGE; Songwriting II (Woody Guthrie / Bob Dylan)
Apr 2015 (I) – BLACK RUSSIAN (Part 1); Songwriting III (Partnerships)
Apr 2015 (II) – BLACK RUSSIAN (Part 2); Songwriting III (Partnerships)
May 2015 – MAL RYDER and THE PRIMITIVES; Songwriting IV (The Rolling Stones)
Jun 2015 – HAYMARKET SQUARE; Songwriting V (The Beatles)
Jul 2015 – THE HUMAN ZOO; Songwriting VI (Psychedelic Rock)
Aug 2015 – CRYSTAL MANSION; Martin Winfree’s Record Cleaning Guide
Dec 2015 – AMANDA JONES; So Many Rock Bands
Mar 2016 – THE LOVEMASTERS; Fun Rock Music
Jun 2016 – THE GYNECOLOGISTS; Offensive Rock Music Lyrics
Sep 2016 – LIGHTNING STRIKE; Rap and Hip Hop
Dec 2016 – THE IGUANAS; Iggy and the Stooges; Proto-Punk Rock
Mar 2017 – THE LAZY COWGIRLS; Iggy and the Stooges; First Wave Punk Rock
Jun 2017 – THE LOONS; Punk Revival and Other New Bands
Sep 2017 – THE TELL-TALE HEARTS; Bootleg Albums
Dec 2017 – SS-20; The Iguana Chronicles
(Year 10 Review)
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